Just FYI, this isn't much like the Travelling Salesman Problem (or TSP) as that requires a path that visits every node in the network, usually for a minimum cost (there are many variations, such as using each link only once, etc.) which is probably not what you are after. In any case you should find some valuable tools on the CPAN in Graph as Fletch advises.

Update: Graph is not so complicated, though you could argue it is overkill for this simple example:

use strict;
use warnings;
use Graph;

my $net = Graph::Undirected->new; # links go both ways

my $start = '1.2.3.4';
my $end   = '1.2.3.6';

while(<DATA>) {
  chomp(my($from,$to) = (split /\s+[^\d.]+\s+/)[0,1]);
  if($net->has_edge($from,$to) ) {
    print "duplication of $from to $to\n"; # shows Graph understands u
+ndirected links
  }else{
    $net->add_edge($from, $to);
    print "link from $from to $to added\n";
  }
}

print "the nodes are: ", join(', ', sort $net->vertices), "\n";
print "the links are: ",$net, "\n";
print "a shortest path from $start to $end is: ", join ' => ', $net->S
+P_Dijkstra($start,$end);

__DATA__
1.2.3.4 links with 1.2.3.5
1.2.3.5 links with 1.2.3.4
1.2.3.5 links with 1.2.3.6
1.2.3.6 links with 1.2.3.5
1.2.3.6 links with 1.2.3.7
1.2.3.7 links with 1.2.3.6
1.2.3.7 links with 1.2.3.4
1.2.3.4 links with 1.2.3.7
1.2.3.5 links with 1.2.3.7
1.2.3.7 links with 1.2.3.5
[download]

produces:

link from 1.2.3.4 to 1.2.3.5 added
duplication of 1.2.3.5 to 1.2.3.4
link from 1.2.3.5 to 1.2.3.6 added
duplication of 1.2.3.6 to 1.2.3.5
link from 1.2.3.6 to 1.2.3.7 added
duplication of 1.2.3.7 to 1.2.3.6
link from 1.2.3.7 to 1.2.3.4 added
duplication of 1.2.3.4 to 1.2.3.7
link from 1.2.3.5 to 1.2.3.7 added
duplication of 1.2.3.7 to 1.2.3.5
the nodes are: 1.2.3.4, 1.2.3.5, 1.2.3.6, 1.2.3.7
the links are: 1.2.3.4=1.2.3.5,1.2.3.4=1.2.3.7,1.2.3.5=1.2.3.6,1.2.3.5
+=1.2.3.7,1.2.3.6=1.2.3.7
a shortest path from 1.2.3.4 to 1.2.3.6 is: 1.2.3.4 => 1.2.3.7 => 1.2.
+3.6
[download]

---

---

Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!

Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.

Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.

Please read these before you post! —

• How do I compose an effective node title?
• How do I post a question effectively?
• Markup in the Monastery

Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:

a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr

You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)

	For:		Use:
	&		&
	<		&lt;
	>		&gt;
	[		&#91;
	]		&#93;

Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?

See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.